Chicken Association supports Devco permits

Delmarva Chicken Association, a 1,600-member trade association for the chicken community, has issued a letter to Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in support of a plan to build a self-contained anaerobic digester near Seaford.

The Bioenergy Innovation Center, proposed by Bioenergy Devco, would convert hatchery waste, poultry plant byproducts and chicken-house litter – including manure – into natural gas and a soil conditioner in an enclosed, safe process.

Bioenergy Devco operates dozens of similar plants in Europe, as well as an anaerobic digester for other waste streams in Jessup, Md. The association noted that other local organizations that have voiced support for the project include Friends of the Nanticoke River and the Wicomico Environmental Trust.

“DCA and its members have been working tirelessly with DNREC for years to properly and sustainably manage poultry processing, hatchery, and litter outputs in an environmentally smart manner,” DCA Executive Director Holly Porter wrote, supporting the company’s permit applications. “The proposed anaerobic digestion facility is in the right place at the right time. With tens of thousands of anaerobic digesters throughout the world, the DCA hopes you will approve this technology for the benefit of the chicken industry, our local economy, and the environmental health of the region.

“For many who oppose this facility, their reasons have been clouded in their true intent – to eradicate the poultry industry in the region altogether, destroying a way of life that currently contributes more than $4.2 billion in economic benefit to our community alone.”

DNREC is accepting comments from the public on the Bioenergy Innovation Center’s proposed permits through Friday, Dec. 2, at dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov.